Katie Kelly is used to waking up at 4 a.m. to make her way down to the Bair Island Aquatic Center at the Port of Redwood City. The senior at Menlo-Atherton trained year-round for at least 16 hours per week for Norcal Crew with the goal of returning to the US National Junior Rowing Championships.

Mission accomplished.

A national champion in the lightweight doubles last summer, Kelly finished third in the women's singles over the weekend at Lake Natoma near Sacramento during the Southwest Region championships, claiming the last spot for nationals.

"This definitely makes everything worthwhile in the end," she said. "You realize that hard work does pay off."

Kelly will be joined by six other rowers, plus a coxswain, out of Norcal Crew when they return to Lake Natoma on June 13-15. The three boats that qualified for nationals are the most for Norcal Crew in at least five years.

"They were very excited because it's extremely tough competition and you're not ever really sure who you're going to be racing," Norcal Crew director Allison Lyon said. "You never know which events the other teams are going to put the fast boats in, so it's always really tough competition and you're never sure if you're going to make the top three or not."

It was particularly satisfying because the Southwest Regional is arguably the toughest in the nation.

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"Anybody that places in the medals and qualifies has, I would say, a better than likely shot to make the grand finals," Norcal Crew varsity men coach Nathan Walker said.

The lightweight men's four, which finished second, is comprised of three juniors from Palo Alto High in Christopher Skokowski, Misha Nelson-Hindery and Marcelo Buxton along with M-A senior Will Carhart as the rowers.

Gunn High's Janet Titzler, left, and Palo Alto High's Alex Warner are headed to nationals after placing second in lightweight doubles at the Southwest Regional near Sacramento.
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"It's very orchestrated," Walker said. "And anytime you have somebody that is a little bit off, it will throw off everything sort of out of rhythm. And that's when the other boats are going to move on yours."

The conductor is Miles Bowman, a senior at Aragon-San Mateo who also made it to nationals two years ago as the coxswain. Quiet as a sophomore, Bowman has grown into a leader on the water, Walker said.

"This year, sort of his last swan song, he's taken the reins and helped lead them back the path that he's already taken," Walker said.

The third boat to qualify is the lightweight double rowed by Paly senior Alex Warner and Janet Tizler of Gunn High in Palo Alto. That boat also finished second.

All of the competitors had to deal with 90-degree weather Friday, then windy conditions over the weekend.

"The kids were racing into a headwind, which adds about a minute to their times," said Lyon, a Paly and Stanford graduate.

The wind also provided rowers such as Kelly with another obstacle.

"What was hard, because of the drought, the trees are really dry and so the pollen gets everywhere and I got really bad allergies," Kelly said. "But the conditions weren't too bad, it's just that the wind picks up in the afternoon and it makes it a little bit more difficult to row. Besides the heat, it wasn't all that bad."